Monday, 2 January 2017

SMALL TRIP TO KATRA VIA TRAIN

A TRIP TO KATRA VIA TRAIN

Butter Naan 

Katra Railway Station 

IRCTC Food court

Chana Masala





Katra Station closed view





Katra Railway Station


Jammu is my home town and  have been to Shree Mata Vaishno Devi many times before but every time we simply head towards Shree Mata Vaishno Devi offer our prayers and come back home ignoring a beautiful town in between KATRA.

 So this time we decided we will see the Katra and will go there by train because we haven't seen the Katra town before via Train and the service was recently started by the government. We had heard a lot about the tunnels and beautiful sceneries in between.so we decided to  to go on a trip to Katra.  " We were on a road with  NO planning , No bookings the only thing we have to do was to pack our bags and explore"

First thing
" There is no such word as a planning especially when it comes to travelling via train in winters because the train has it own plans for you "
 .
The trian was 4 hours late as expected. But we had already decided that no matter what we will go there. like a boss !! Then after 5 long hours of wait , train arrived at the station. As soon as train started we were really excited about the journey , cool breeze was blowing , atmosphere was pleasant and the must awaited journey has started. There are many tunnels in between more than 20 , out of them two were the longest. The view from train is superb , you will see many bridges , mountains , greenery , small villages etc . The only thing which made us excited was tunnels , i think the whole route is under the tunnels only you just have to sit on your seat and enjoy the overwhelming nature.
After two hours of journey we reached Katra and for our greater surprise we couldn't believe where we were , the station is truly amazing one of the best railway station i have ever seen. We reached there around 7:30 p.m. and the view was amazing. The route to Mata Vaishno Devi bhawan was shining like a diamond necklace on the heart of mountain. At Katra Railway station you can find

a shopping mall inside

An IRCTC food court probably the best you have ever seen

You can book IRCTC rooms there also

clock room is also available

Waiting hall where you can refresh yourself

We had one of the best dinner there in IRCTC food court and after looking every single corner of the station we found  we decided to leave for the town.
Then comes the outside view of the station OHH MYY GOD ! The Best !! The Katra station looks stunning from the outside. It is bigger than a football ground.

One thing i would like to drag your attention is that i checked the rooms on OYO , make my trip , GOIBIBO etc but for my utter surprise the cheapest rooms you will find in katra only ranging from 400-600 bucks per night providing pick and drop facility  Others were also there for 800-2000 per night but you can find the same price online also
.
From station we took a rickshaw towards the town , the rickshaw guys will charge you around 40-50 bucks  , there is no price meter in the rickshaw so you have to agree on the price or you can walk but rickshaw will be a better choice because there is not much to see on between except for hotels and some local shops.

We reached katra town within minutes and the view their was amazing , the town looks quite busy and shining at the same time , the streets were busy we decided to go towards the market ,   the shops were decorated like a Deepawali festival , we had a Gajar ka halwa on one of a shop then for my greater surprise i saw a board of a lodge giving room for just 150 bucks for a night the cheapest you will see , the lodge was not so good but for 150 bucks for a night you can't find better. Then we had a meetha  paan on a local shop and decided to return . We boared a train back towards Jammu tawi and reached the station at around 1:01 A.m. At this time you can't find any transport but u can stay in yatri bhawns outside the station for 150 bucks per bed or even you can book a room for a night for around 400 bucks.Both Ac and Non Ac . The journey to katra was a short but a memorable one , i have seen people saying that solo journey is good but belive me if you got the chance to travel with your best friends  wherever  you go will be always be the best.

  I tried to write for a first time so apologies for any mistakes and thanks for reading it all though  i am trying to learn  and will write for my trips to Konkan , Harihareshwar & patnitop. Any suggestions on writing will be truly appreciable . Thanks